How To Price Out A Tree Job? Non Professional Version!

[@davesauerzopf6980]

We would sub out a tree climber due to insurance, it did not pay to have one on the payroll all the time, we had a cherry picker that we would use for cutting and also got other side jobs other than cutting down trees, we would rent a stump grinder once a month for a day or 2 to grind any stumps that people wanted ground down. It does not pay to actually own one of them due to maintaining them. The chipper was great to have because a lot of people wanted the mulch or you can sell it to other people. Get hooked up with a logger/sawmill for some of that good wood that will bring you more money instead of just making firewood. We did not have a place to dump logs so we had/found people that wanted the wood for firewood and we had a few people that would take the logs as well. Some will even give you some cash for the logs. And there is nothing like a good storm to make a ton of money when you learn how to work with the insurance companies and the local townships. It is hard back breaking work and not easy to find people to work for you that know what they are doing as well. Good luck with your new endeavor. I look forward to more videos.

[@HomesteadJay]

Hey Dave! Thank you for your feedback as a young and very green business its good to catch some early advice! Much appreciated!

[@andrewsavin9596]

Hi, what is the maximum height of your spider lift? Is 34 enough? Thanks.

[@davesauerzopf6980]

@@andrewsavin9596 It was an old electric company truck with a basket.

[@andrewsavin9596]

@@davesauerzopf6980 ✨👍👍

[@LitltsLogging]

You hit every important aspect right on the head. It's very important to consider the 5 things you talked about to be successful on doing tree work. I've been doing tree service, logging my whole life and started in the same spot you are buddy. Just keep on doing what your doing and you'll be very successful. When I have a couple extra minutes I will email you my contact information and you can get ahold of me anytime to ask questions or whatever. Stay safe my friend

[@HomesteadJay]

Hey Tim! Id love to pick your brain about future jobs I run across! Thank you for your willingness to help! I know you been following along for years now so as always I appreciate it! Im glad this video had some truth to it according to you! Much appreciated!

[@buildlife]

I wish I had KZbin 30 years ago so I could look back and see how I started. I remember doing roofing jobs on the side and then the tipping point when I made double the money in half the time as my day job (pouring concrete for my dad) and it was off to the races!

[@HomesteadJay]

Exactly man! I hope I can look back and see wow I was very slow then haha I feel pretty efficient now but curious to see how I will evolve! I dig this stuff man so I cant wait to keep working at it!

[@austingriffith1118]

This doesn't explain how to price a tree job, but it does explain some of the factors that would tend to increase the amount of time or effort involved in a job. Here is how to price a tree job. Decide how many full days and how many half days you'd be working in an average week, and how much income to need to generate to cover your costs. Might be $400/day, might be $1500/day, depending on the level of income you are trying to achieve and the amount of expense/overhead you are carrying. If you aren't sure yet, just start doing work for people for a random amount of money. At the end of the day, if you feel like you got screwed, ask for more the next time. Then, use your pricing model along with the experience you have gained through work and decide when you look at a job how many full days, how many half days, etc it will take to complete. You could add a percentage on, add a rental fee if applicable, etc. It's that simple. If you are wrong on your estimate about time, you will learn through experience and get better at bidding jobs in the future.

[@happycamper6352]

Can you please talk about actual dollar amounts?

[@TwinCityFirewood]

Great video and great info!

[@HomesteadJay]

Thank you! Please subscribe if your not!

[@TwinCityFirewood]

@@HomesteadJay sure will!!

[@Billster1955]

Most people want a firm price. I try to average $100 per hour. If you tell them it will cost $100 per hour, you probably won't get the job. I chatge more if there's a lot of rigging or the tree is sketchy, as in rotten in places. It take a while to be a good estimator.

[@richardhayes5792]

I have a tree job I don’t normally do tree jobs I’m a carpenter but the guy wants me to cut 25 trees down and into firewood and pile brush 3 are hanging over a garage I don’t know what to charge but I know how to run a saw I was a logger for many years I was thinking 250 a tree for the 3 and 200 a tree for the rest they are all storm damage bent trees

[@shayn4220]

I think that last tree job was red oak ,

[@HomesteadJay]

Yes I was back and fourth with red or white but it’s boiler wood regardless I could Care less either or 🤣

[@shayn4220]

@@HomesteadJay I know but there’s those guys that have to be right , but your doing it right , I have done a few tree jobs I have a bad habit of under pricing everything cause wanna make people happy and lock jobs in ,

[@HomesteadJay]

Im kinda like that now! Id rather be low to get the work and wood supply in but also have my name floating around there for people thinking they are getting a good fair deal which will most likely be under the professional tree service quotes!

[@shayn4220]

@@HomesteadJay do a good job , keep people happy , it goes a long way 👍🏻

[@2dollab178]

I’ve watched 4 videos on HOW TO PRICE A TREE JOB…. Not one has given a damn price with equation🤦‍♂️

[@HomesteadJay]

I explained all the factors involved. The more difficult the more money. The easier the less it can be

[@HomesteadJay]

There is no magical equation

[@MNDmanIII]

Well, back in 2013 my budy did the math and for his growing tree service and location he wanted to be no less than $300 job or $300 an hour. That is the low end of things. I saw an east coast tree service with chipper, climbing certified arborist, clam truck operator, skid steer, and crane crew where the owner was at a minimum of $675 an hour during the 2016 to 2020 presidency. I am working with a company whose daily hourly goal is about $1000 an hour but we can hammer jobs that would take a small tree service a full day or 2 in about 4 or 5 hours. So today a larger company running big equipment will be about $1000 an hour or more. Keep in mind though, that with the right equipment and the right crew a 5 or 8 hour job could be done on 1 to 2 hours. So it really depends on location of the country and city/farm land areas, how many obstacles, powerlines, landscaping, location of buildings, and ultimately the level of risk that the job contains within the scope of safely removing or pruning. Cranes will charge $200 to $450 an hour just by themselves. One tree service that I worked with had built a great reputation and insurance work would actually come to the owner and he even set up a deal with a contractor that did emergency work that we could be on a job site with less than 24 hours notice for emergency type situations and even less than 4 to 8 hours notice sometimes. Those paid fantastic. A few jobs were about $15k in one day and another was $25k in 3 days. So it really all depends, but hey there are some numbers for you and not every job pays that much or costs that much. Most average pricing in the major city near me was anywhere from $500 to $1200 a job at the smaller well reputable company and we could pound out 2 to 5 jobs a day. The bigger company that I am with can pound out large jobs in about the same amount of time tripling or quadrupling revenue.. Hope that helps.

[@MNDmanIII]

I would like add thay many Jobs did also cost $3k to $8k and those would pop up sometimes back to back to back or sometimes a bunch of turn and burns got added to the work schedule and we made the same but had added drive time in between a bunch of smaller jobs.

[@annieobrien9783]

Exactly. NOt much help to me at all. He could have done an example.

[@tanyabohrson147]

Do require a Arborist Cert to quote a Job?

[@HomesteadJay]

No

[@HomesteadJay]

Not in nh at least. Idk about other states

[@kevinbrayshaw7745]

I hope you are bonded as well as carrying workman’s compensation insurance

[@schlomoshekelstein908]

hell no! there's a reason he said he's not a professional

[@HomesteadJay]

I do have insurance. I have no workers comp because im a solo business.

[@mttrapper]

Good video but I would have liked to have seen video footage of what you're talking about. I cleared my 20 acres of mountain pine beetle killed ponderosa. It took me several years part time. I have an L3560 Kubota with a Wallenstein PTO chipper. I burned the logs for firewood and gave away over 100 cords. Montana is a semi-arid climate and I didn't want to burn slash. I broadcasted the wood chips back onto my forest floor. It kept the weeds down and I found it helped with the natural flowers and plants. If I were doing this commerically I would stress that advantage to the customer. A neighbor who also has 20 acres asked me what I would charge him to do the same tree work on his property. He liked that I surgically cut the dead trees but left a variety of species and generations of trees alone. I told him he couldn't afford me. He insisted on a price. I told him $500,000. He was insulted. I said, "I told you I REALLY don't want to clear the dead trees from your property because there are hundreds or maybe thousands of widow makers hung up on live fir trees and many hundreds more tangled up on the ground." He doesn't talk to me any more. Another thing of interest. Insurance companies are sending letters to homeowners in the urban interface telling them they need to do fire mitigation on their property or lose coverage. Try selling a house to someone who can't get insurance.

[@HomesteadJay]

Thanks for sharing. Very wild to hear all that. Sorry for the late reply this comment musta got buried somewhere! You sound like you have a lot of work out there! Be safe and god bless!

[@mttrapper]

I make safety a top priority.

[@happycamper-ux5pv]

i remove wood cut it up i charge 500.00 and up